Preteklik - the Past Tense

The Slovene Past Tense is very simple. You just need to remember one formula and a bunch of exceptions:

Past Tense = To Be (Present Tense)¹ + Participle² + L_³

¹ To Be (Present Tense)Here’s a reminder table of To Be – Biti, in Present Tense.

Jaz

sem

nisem

Ti

si

nisi

On, Ona, Omo

je

ni

Midva, Midve / Medve

sva

nisva

Vidva, Vidve / Vedve

sta

nista

Onadva, Onidve

sta

nista

Mi, Me

smo

nismo

Vi, Ve

ste

niste

Oni, One

so

niso

²
ParticipleThe Participle, like in English, is the “root” of the verb that remains “unchanged”.For example: to cook – I cook – I cooked.

To find the participle in Slovene is very simple.

IFthe verb ending is -ti, you take it out then you have the participle. + L_³
For example: kuhati (to cook) – sem kuhal (I cooked).

IF the verb ending is -či, it becomes a bit more complicated because it becomes –ke + L_. For example: teči (to run) – sem tekel (I ran).

And… some verbs are exceptions, and you need to learn them by ♥.

³ L
_As we know, Slovene is a very precise language – it makes a difference between singular, dual and plural as well as male, female and neutral (which less used) – so the L_ indicated that precision.

Male (STOL -chair)

Female (ŠOLA -school)

Neutral (LETALO -airplane)

Singular

STOL

ŠOLA

LETALO

Dual

STOLA

ŠOLI

LETALI

Plural

STOLI

ŠOLE

LETALA

My trick is to remember the singular masculine form and just change the ending according to the subject.

Here’s an example using a verb that ends with -ti like govoriti, to tal
k.

Male

Female

Singular

Jaz sem govoril

Jaz sem govorila

Dual

Onadva sta govorila

Onidve sta govorili

Plural

Oni so govorili

One so govorile

*For the curious, biti, to be is regular ∴ jaz sem bil. (Other verbs: pisati, to write; vedeti, to know; gledati, to watch; študirati, to study…)

With verbs ending with -či, like reči, to say: the -či becomes -ke
+l_.

Male

Female

Singular

Jaz sem rekel

Jaz sem rekla

Dual

Onadva sta rekla

Onidve sta rekli

Plural

Oni so rekli

One so rekle

*Please notice how the e is underlined, it means that it will disappeared when conjugated. (Other verbs: vreči, to pull; peči, to bake, teči, to run; obleči, to get dressed…)

As I’ve mentioned before, some verbs fall into the “exceptions” box and you will just need to know them.

Some verbs fall into the “exception box”, like iti, to go and jesti, to eat – and you just have to know it by ♥.

Male

Female

Singular

Jaz sem šel / jedel

Jaz sem šla / jedla

Dual

Onadva sta šla / jedla

Onidve sta šli / jedli

Plural

Oni so šli / jedli

One so šle / jedle

Other exceptions are:priti, to come (prišel);oditi, to leave (odšel); najti, to find (našel)…